Modbus TCP
SunSpec Model 8 — Get Device Security Certificate
SunSpec
Overview
SunSpec Model 8 is a protocol-level information model defined by the SunSpec Alliance for retrieving device security certificate metadata from SunSpec-compliant DER devices over Modbus TCP. The template reads four header registers: the model identifier, model block length, certificate format code, and certificate count. These registers let a Modbus client discover whether a connected device exposes X.509-based credentials and in what encoding. For integrators deploying SunSpec-compliant inverters, meters, or storage systems in secured grid environments, this template provides the first step in verifying a device's security posture without opening a separate interface.
Use cases
- Verify that a SunSpec-compliant DER device reports at least one security certificate before commissioning.
- Track the certificate format code to confirm X.509 encoding is consistent across multiple site devices.
- Alert on a certificate count of zero to detect devices where security provisioning has failed.
